6,966 Shares in U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) Bought by Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd

Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd bought a new stake in shares of U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 6,966 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $333,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of USB. Winch Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 1,088.9% in the 4th quarter. Winch Advisory Services LLC now owns 535 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 490 shares during the period. J.Safra Asset Management Corp bought a new position in U.S. Bancorp in the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. acquired a new position in U.S. Bancorp in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates grew its holdings in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 70.8% during the fourth quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 603 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stonebridge Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of U.S. Bancorp during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. 77.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Terrance R. Dolan sold 66,317 shares of U.S. Bancorp stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.96, for a total transaction of $3,114,246.32. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 209,482 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,837,274.72. The trade was a 24.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Andrew Cecere sold 102,044 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.25, for a total value of $4,821,579.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,230,316 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $58,132,431. This represents a 7.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 219,812 shares of company stock worth $10,385,665. Corporate insiders own 0.23% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on USB. Wolfe Research upgraded U.S. Bancorp from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $49.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of U.S. Bancorp from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on shares of U.S. Bancorp from $51.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of U.S. Bancorp from $60.00 to $59.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Compass Point raised their price target on shares of U.S. Bancorp from $49.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, U.S. Bancorp currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $52.89.

U.S. Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE USB opened at $36.78 on Monday. U.S. Bancorp has a 52-week low of $34.73 and a 52-week high of $53.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $57.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.70, a PEG ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $44.92 and its 200 day simple moving average is $47.44.

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.01. U.S. Bancorp had a return on equity of 12.94% and a net margin of 14.75%. The firm had revenue of $7.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.99 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that U.S. Bancorp will post 4.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

U.S. Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.44%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. U.S. Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is 52.77%.

About U.S. Bancorp

U.S. Bancorp, a financial services holding company, provides various financial services to individuals, businesses, institutional organizations, governmental entities, and other financial institutions in the United States. It operates through Wealth, Corporate, Commercial and Institutional Banking; Consumer and Business Banking; Payment Services; and Treasury and Corporate Support segments.